Head coach Rob Mallinder was hoping to give his athletes another chance to qualify for nationals, and at Saturday’s meet at Central College in Pella, Iowa, that is exactly what happened.
Sophomore Chelsey Ornburn capitalized on the opportunity in the pole vault and now has a plane ticket to Fresno, Calif., to compete at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national meet to be held May 24-26.
“All the people that qualified were saying, ‘Come on Chelsey. You know you can do it, just get it over with!'” Ornburn said. “When I cleared the height I was so excited.”
Her excitement was also because the vault of 11-3 that is sending her to nationals is her personal record in a meet. She said, however, that height never seems to be a problem in practice.
“We set the practice bar at that height all the time,” she said. “I think (what helped) was coach Mackie (Valentin) really sticking with me.”
A lot of energy was expended during the Heart of America Athletic Conference championships held the previous weekend, so head coach Rob Mallinder said he was impressed by the effort at the Central College meet.
“It was a pretty quick turnaround,” Mallinder said. “I was pleasantly surprised with how our athletes performed.”
He was also surprised by the athletes’ performance considering the weather was less than ideal. “When we left the meet, you looked back and could see the lights with a dark haze,” he said.
Senior LaTasha Roberts and sophomore Katey Wegemer competed in the 400-meter dash. Roberts earned the second-fastest time in Baker’s history with 59.78 seconds, and Wegemer ran the sixth-fastest Baker time with 60.17.
Senior Brent Randle did not compete in field events, but instead ran the 100 and 200 dashes with times of 11.27 and 22.87, respectively.
Sophomore Regan Boyer earned second place in the high jump with a height of 4-11, which Mallinder said he was very pleased with.
“It was good to see her finish the season on a good note,” he said.
The meet also was a good experience for freshman Matthew James, who placed second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.18.
“Matthew learned a lot about himself. He still ran tough; it just wasn’t one of his best times,” Mallinder said. “When you look at everything he can improve upon, you come out happy with the race.”
Nine athletes are now gearing up to compete at the national meet, but there is still a chance for athletes close to attaining a national mark to qualify at a meet in Emporia Saturday. The athletes who have already qualified are continuing preparation for the national meet.
“We’re going out to fix the little things that are going to make a difference,” Wegemer said.